Karthik Viswanathan; Malis Selamat and Michael Hoo (VMware)
VMware has strengthened capabilities across channel, customer and product divisions through three executive appointments across Southeast Asia and Korea (SEAK).
Specifically, the vendor has appointed Malis Selamat as director of commercial business, Michael Hoo as head of solution architect practice and Karthik Viswanathan as regional director of CloudHealth across the region.
The triple appointment follows the hiring of Fan Qu as director of channels and alliances at VMware SEAK in October 2018, as the software giant continues to invest in key Asian markets.
“To successfully drive large transformational needs, VMware needs a holistic approach to continue with our product innovations and provide greater support both our customers and channel partners across the ecosystem,” said Sanjay K. Deshmukh, vice president and managing director of SEAK at VMware.
“The addition of Malis, Michael and Karthik to our SEAK leadership team will fortify VMware’s position in enhancing the capabilities of our cloud solutions, customers and partners.
"This includes enabling a hybrid and multi-cloud strategy and management platform, and empowering their employees with the right digital workspace platform."
As director of commercial business, Malis will focus on driving VMware’s growth in SEAK by furthering the adoption of the vendor’s advanced solutions with existing and new businesses.
Prior to joining VMware, Malis was channel and inside sales director of Southeast Asia at McAfee, leading the security vendor's channel and commercial team as well as the overall distribution and partner ecosystem across the market.
“Channel partners play an integral role in VMware’s strategy,” Malis added. “There are immense opportunities in hybrid cloud and multi-cloud, and we want to help our partners leverage those.
“With a strengthened ecosystem, we can build better engagement with our partners, further equipping them with best-in-class solutions and capabilities to drive digital transformation in the region."
Meanwhile, Hoo will lead and build the solution architect practice alongside a team of solution architects in SEAK, tasked with enabling strategic engagement and driving digital transformation for the vendor's "50 lighthouse accounts" in the region.
Before joining VMware, Hoo worked with Dell EMC as a principal architect and global lead and held similar roles at EMC for the ASEAN region, IBM Malaysia and Sarawak Shell.
“Digital transformation remains one of the top areas of focus for enterprises in the region,” Hoo said. “As more enterprises migrate to cloud, VMware’s newly established solution architect practice will allow us to help enterprises tackle their specific business needs.
“To truly become a digital enterprise, it is vital that businesses implement the right infrastructure and create a digital workspace for their employees to access these cloud-based capabilities. These will in turn foster innovation, collaboration and creativity within the enterprise.”
Rounding off the new hires, and with more than 15 years of experience in the enterprise tech industry, Viswanathan will be responsible for driving VMware’s product strategy in the SEAK region as the vendor's new regional director of CloudHealth, which was acquired in 2018.
Viswanathan is responsible for accelerating the digital transformation of organisations through VMware's cloud computing services, with a key focus on cost management, governance, automation and security.
Prior to joining VMware, Viswanathan held leadership roles at Fortinet, Dell EMC and HCL Technologies.
“Asia’s economic boom presents businesses in the region with tremendous opportunities, the key lies in harnessing digital innovations for better business outcomes,” Viswanathan added.
“VMware’s industry-leading cloud management solutions will help organisations supercharge their multi-cloud strategies for greater architectural flexibility and security as they grow in lockstep with the region’s continued economic success.”
